Broadband network environments have spread as far as ordinary households and, also, residential network environments are in the process of becoming implemented by the spread of Wireless LAN (Local Area Network) and the like.
Starting with digital home appliance devices like hard disk recorders, television sets, and surveillance cameras, and including desired white goods like refrigerators, articles that can be connected to a residential network are gradually entering the stage, so it is believed that networking in the home will increasingly move forward.
However, in order to connect network devices to a residential network, it has been necessary to do things like re-modifying network settings for a personal computer and a router and newly installing software in the personal computer.
In this manner, it has been necessary for the user to individually make the settings for the network connection of the device itself and the settings of the firewall and the network address translation in order to protect the residential network from illicit access from the outside, the effort and degree of difficulty of which are becoming a problem.
For the simplification of the settings, there conventionally existed, as a method for making the settings of devices in the home via a home gateway, the method as described in Patent Reference 1 and Patent Reference 2, of downloading files for controlling the devices as well as files for the user interface display from a server on an external network and, display, on a control terminal, an interface for device control using the web server incorporated in the home gateway; and, as a method for automatically making the settings of the firewall, the method as described in Patent Reference 3 of disposing apparatuses named network outlets within the residential network, having these network outlets hold settings information, and supplying, with respect to requests from the home gateway, information needed for the connection of network devices from the network outlets.
Also, “Universal Plug and Play” (below “UPnP”) [for details, refer to http://www.upnp.org/] is proposed as a communication standard for the plug and play of network devices.    Patent Reference 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 2004-021325.    Patent Reference 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 2002-247668.    Patent Reference 3: Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. 2003-348116.